Documents of value are understood as sheet-shaped objects, which represent for example a monetary value or an authorization and which should therefore not be producible at will by unauthorized persons. Therefore they have properties which are not easy to produce, in particular not easy to copy, whose presence indicates authenticity, i.e. production by a correspondingly authorized authority. Some important examples for such documents of value are chip cards, coupons, vouchers, checks and in particular bank notes.
In many cases such documents of value are to be machine-examined for their authenticity and/or their physical state, such as for example the limpness or the presence of tears, holes or adhesive tape.
For this purpose in apparatus for processing documents of value sensors are used for examining the documents of value, which sensors within the framework of the present invention are understood to represent devices for detecting at least one property of at least one section of a document of value and for so as to generate sensor signals representing the property. Therein these sensors do not necessarily need to contain a circuit for processing the detection signals or for control.
These sensors typically have at least one electrical component serving to convert electrical energy into sound waves and/or magnetic or electromagnetic fields, in particular optical radiation, for examining the document of value and/or to detect sound waves and/or magnetic or electromagnetic fields, particularly optical radiation, from the document of value, so as to generate detection signals. In the first case the sensor frequently also encompasses a detection element for detecting effects triggered by the influence of the sound waves and/or magnetic or electromagnetic fields. To be supplied with electrical energy or to exchange signals the components are as a rule connected to a conductor plate, on which plug-in connector contacts are disposed for a connecting cable having a complementary plug-in connector and leading to an electrical evaluation circuit. The respective component is as a rule held in a holder in a position which is expedient for examining documents of value, and is connected with the separate conductor plate via cable.
Since such sensors are frequently used in apparatus for automatically processing documents of value, they should be as small as possible and be producible at a small effort. However, the above-described structure of a sensor requires a number of mounting steps and also considerable space.